Chapter 56
By the time Cassandra finally returned to the palace, she had stopped noticing the ache in her body.
The journey from the village had been long, uncomfortable, and far more exhausting than she anticipated, but none of it mattered anymore.
The moment the palace came into view, her despair had all but vanished, replaced by a desperate sense of relief. She had spent the last several days constantly looking over her shoulder for signs that Whitmore or one of his men had somehow found her.
The towers of Caldor were a welcomed sight and the palace even so.
Safe. She was finally safe. More importantly, she could finally speak to the queen.
There was so much she needed to tell her. Not just about how she had almost been forced to wed a man she didn’t know but also the fact that there were people out there being trafficked by him.
Even now, Cassandra could scarcely make sense of everything she had discovered. Still the queen needed to hear it.
Perhaps more than that, she needed to sit before the woman she trusted most and simply let herself breathe.
Cassandra entered the palace through the main doors and immediately drew the attention of several servants.
She could hardly blame them, not when she looked nothing like the woman who had left several days earlier.
The fine gown she had worn when she departed was gone, replaced by the old plain dress Miriam had lent her. A weathered cloak hung around her shoulders, and although she had done what she could to make herself presentable during the journey, the road had left its mark upon her.
There was dust along the hem of her dress, faint smudges remained on her hands, and her hair wasn’t near either, several blonde strands sticking out wildly.
Cassandra saw one maid gawking at her so blatantly. But when the woman saw she had been caught, she quickly lowered her eyes.
Cassandra ignored all of them. They were not the reason she was there.
Someone called her name as she hurried through the entrance hall, but she did not stop. She knew that questions were coming. She could already imagine them.
Where had she been?
What had happened?
Why had she returned in such a state?
She would answer them eventually. Just not now.
The queen came first.
Cassandra quickened her pace as she approached her majesty’s private wing.
She already thought about what she was going to say, though she knew that no explanation could possibly encompass everything that had happened.
The entrance to the private wing loomed just ahead when she rounded a corner too quickly and collided with someone.
The impact sent her stumbling backward and a pair of strong hands caught her by the shoulders before she could lose her balance.
Warm brown eyes met hers as Theodore stared down at her, surprise quickly giving way to concern.
"Your highness, pardon me. I wasn’t watching where I was going."
He had last seen her several days ago, when she had left the palace intending to visit her family. Now she stood before him in clothes that weren’t hers with exhaustion written plainly across her features.
His brows drew together. "What happened to you?"
Cassandra opened her mouth, but the question she needed answered came first.
"Do you happen to know whether Her Majesty is in her chambers?"
Theodore’s expression changed. It was subtle, but Cassandra saw it anyway.
"She is in her chambers," he said and right in front of her, his eyes clouded with a strange emotion she could fully decipher.
Sadness, perhaps. But it seemed deeper than that.
"She isn’t allowed visitors right now. She has taken ill, you see." He added and Cassandra’s mind went blank.
The words themselves were ordinary enough. People fell ill. Even queens were not immune to sickness.
But something about the way he had said it made unease curl in her stomach.
"What? Since when?"
"The day you left." Theodore answered.
Cassandra’s heart gave a strange, painful lurch.
"How ill?" She asked, needing to know.
"The physicians are attending to her as we speak."
She stepped closer. "Is she awake? I would like to see her afterward."
Theodore hesitated for a moment, as if he was worried about how she would receive the news.
"No," he said, sounding subdued. "She has been mostly unconscious for the past few days."
Everything inside Cassandra went still.
For several seconds, she could neither hear nor feel anything properly. Theodore was still speaking, most likely telling her more about the queen’s condition, but his voice sounded muffled and distorted, like it was coming from under water.
Unconscious.
The word struck something buried deep inside her.
She knew this.
She had seen something very similar play out in her past life.
The memory did not return gently. It came rushing through her with the force of a crashing wave.
The queen lying motionless on her bed, gradually losing the battle against the poison ravaging her body. The terrible stillness that had followed afterward.
Cassandra remembered the helplessness she felt while standing beside that bed in her former life, watching the woman who had been her greatest source of strength grow weaker by the day.
She remembered the hope she had clung to because accepting the alternative had been impossible. She remembered telling herself that the queen would recover.
There was still time, she told herself. There had to be time.
But there had been none left.
Now she felt her fingers curling against the fabric of her cloak.
No.
She had not been gone that long, only days. What could possibly have happened in a few days?
"Cassandra?"
Theodore’s voice reached her this time and it became apparent that he had been trying to get her attention for some time now.
She looked at him, but she suspected her expression must have betrayed far more than she realized.
She could feel the blood draining from her face.
"You look faint. Do you need to lay down?" He asked, deeply concerned.
"I’m fine." The lie came automatically.
But she wasn’t fine, not even close. She could feel herself spiraling and she didn’t know how to stop.
Theodore clearly did not believe her.
"You just returned. A few hours of rest will do you good." He suggested.
Cassandra glanced off in the direction that led to the queen’s quarters.
"I need to see her." She felt it like an insistent ache in her chest.